UCLA Fowler’s new exhibition telling stories of tea through art forms
Cultural News, 2009 September Issue
Tea ceremony set (matcha style) Japan, 1950s. Mixed media. Collection of S. Baba and J. Keck. (Photo by S. Baba)
The Fowler Museum at UCLA’s new exhibition “Steeped in History: The Art of Tea” telling stories of tea through art from Asia, Europe and America through Nov. 29. The exhibition is sponsored by Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf and guest curated by Beatrice Hohenegger, author of Liquid Jade: The Story of Tea from East to West (St. Martin’s Press, 2007).
The new exhibition at the Fowler Museum is a wide-ranging survey that brings together art from three continents and many centuries to delve into the history and culture of tea.
Traveling from Asia to the West, tea has played a variety of profound roles on the world scene – as an ancient health remedy, an element of cultural practice, and source of spiritual insight.
Historically it was also a catalyst for international conflicts and horrific labor conditions in various countries.
Throughout its history tea has been a prevalent theme in the visual arts – scenes of tea embellish ceramics and textiles and are the subject of paintings and drawings, and all manner of vessels have been fashioned for the preparation and presentation of tea.
“Steeped in History” brings together rare Chinese ceramics and paintings, 18th - and 19th century Japanese ceramics and prints, extraordinary English and Colonial American paintings, vintage photographs and historical documents, tea-serving paraphernalia and furniture from many countries, and much more – to tell the fascinating history of tea.
Along with other sections of “China, The Cradle of Tea Culture,” “Tea Craze in the West,” and “Tea and Empire,” “The Way of Tea in Japan” section of the exhibition explores tea’s enormous significance in Japan, where is was first introduced, along with Buddhism, during the early Heian period (794 – 1185) by monks who had traveled to China to study Chan (Zen) Buddhism.
Tea was drunk in monasteries and some aristocratic circles, but it was not until the end of the 12th century that its role in Japanese arts and culture became more prominent, after the Buddhist priest Eisai brought back to Japan the powdered tea (known in Japan was matcha) then popular in Song China.
Tea drinking spread among the military aristocracy and the interactions between the warrior elite and Zen priests produced one of the early forms of chanoyu, known in the West as the Japanese tea ceremony. Tea was so central to Japanese culture by the second half of the Edo period (1615 – 1868) that everyday articles and accessories, such as the netsuke, decorative belt toggles that hung from the sashes of kimono, were frequently decorated with tea-related motifs.
The opening of Japan to the West in the 1850s brought new topics and themes to tea-related arts, as well as to the development of tea wares produced for Western markets. Stoneware tea caddies, tea bowls, scrolls and other tea-related objects from the 10th – 20th centuries attest to the long history and important place that tea holds in Japanese culture.
A magnificent bed cover decorated with images of tea utensils and other auspicious items suggests how tea culture permeated even personal parts of Japanese life.
Related Events
October 18, 2 p.m.
Korean Tea Ceremony Demonstration and Tasting
Los Angeles-based artist Bonghwa Kim demonstrates the meditative and artistic aspects of Korean tea ceremony. The program concludes on a sweet note with a tasting of tea and Korean treats. $15 members; $20 non-members. Space limited; reservations required: (310) 825-8655.
November 14, 2 p.m. and 3 p.m.
Chanoyu Demonstrations
The Omote Senke School will demonstrate the Japanese tea ceremony most commonly referred to as chanoyu
November 22, 6 p.m.
Lecture with Morgan Pitelka: Tea of the Samurai in Time of War and Peace
Occidental College professor and historian Morgan Pitelka exmanines how tea gatherings and collections of tea-related art played significant roles in the lives and careers of elite samurai between the 15th century and 19th centuries. Samurai studied tea ritual, fetishized tea utensils, employed tea masters as diplomats and art connoisseurs, and came to understand immersion in tea culture as an opportunity for the cultivation of distinct warrior values.